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State News Release - October 04, 2002 |
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Green Party of Colorado |
| Chandler: Feeley, Beauprez Lack Constitutional Courage on War Resolution |
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CONTACT: Chandler: Feeley, Beauprez Lack Constitutional Courage on War Resolution (Arvada, Colorado) Dave Chandler, Green Party candidate for the seventh congressional district, said today that Democrat Mike Feeley and Republican Bob Beauprez lack the courage to vote against the flawed Iraq war resolution now pending before the House of Representatives. “The resolution shreds the Constitution of the United States -- the document a member of Congress swears to uphold,” Chandler said. “The vote should be 100 percent no, and if I were in Congress, I would vote against this perversion of our governing charter.” Both Mr. Feeley and Mr. Beauprez have said in recent days that they would support the resolution authorizing the use of U.S. force against Iraq. Chandler said that the resolution currently under consideration in the House of Representatives guts Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. “The resolution gives Bush a blank check ‘to use the Armed Forces of the United States as HE determines to be necessary and appropriate.’ This contradicts the express power reserved exclusively to the Congress to declare war. If Bush wants to attack Iraq, he should come to the Congress when he is ready and request an official declaration of war. There shouldn’t be anything open-ended about it,” Chandler said. “Jefferson, Madison, and the nation’s founders would be aghast that the Congress, as a separate and co-equal branch of our government, would so willingly give-up this important power to the executive branch. The veterans of the American Revolution would be astonished that an act of Congress would essentially create the kind of all-powerful warlord that they fought against in 1776.” Chandler notes that the resolution, which purports to justify an attack, is based assertions and not on facts that have been presented to the American people. “The functioning of a free republic depends upon the people having the necessary and pertinent information to make decisions. The resolution, for instance, asserts that ‘members of Al Qaida ... are known to be in Iraq.’ This has not been proven to the American people,” Chandler said. “Yet Bush and the Congress are planning to put thousands of American military lives on the line, and thousands of innocent Iraqi lives at risk, based on such unproven allegations.” “I would have the courage to challenge Bush. I would advocate the use of diplomacy before so hastily putting the lives of American men and women in danger. There is everything to gain from utilizing United Nations weapons inspectors to save countless lives and I would support those efforts fully,” said Chandler. “And I wouldn’t be hiding behind platitudes and party loyalty when it came to making difficult decisions.” Chandler said that Mr. Beauprez’s position on the Iraq resolution demonstrates his shortcomings. “We need a member of Congress who will represent the people of this district, we don’t need just another rubber stamp for their party leadership.” “When this issue is brought up, Mike Feeley keeps talking about how he understands the chain-of-command, when the commander-in-chief says go, you go. But a member of Congress is not a soldier, they aren’t under any chain-of-command. Your responsibility is to the people and the Constitution. In fact, it is the duty of a Congressman to be independent and vote for what is best for their constituents and the country -- even if that means saying the president is flat wrong.” Dave Chandler |
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State News Release - October 04, 2002 |
Home | Press | State Press |
